The Chargers should seriously consider ordering quarterback Philip Rivers to sit out Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh. He will be unprotected, a bomber without fighter cover. At the very least, Philip should be relieved of command early should the punishing become too severe.

This isn’t the Spurs resting four starters. This is serious. This is protecting your franchise quarterback’s well-being. That way, he could live another week to be booed by his own fans when Carolina comes to town Dec. 16.

Rivers was introduced last Sunday to what there was of a Qualcomm Stadium crowd, and it was like, whoa! Where am I? Denver? Oakland? K.C.? A smattering of boos came down from what seats that weren’t empty.

I do not understand.

I understand many Chargers fans — who never have fired anyone in their lives but live to try through cyberspace — want to see the heads of Norv Turner and General Manager A.J. Smith carried down Broadway on sticks with a band playing a Russian funeral dirge.

And that’s OK, well, except for the heads on a stick part. Cases can be made for Norv and A.J., but this Rivers thing is stupefying. No case can be made.

Now I’m getting: “Get rid of Norv, A.J. and Rivers” e-mails.

It’s not right, not right at all.

If the Chargers send off Rivers they may not win again until they’re in their 20th season in Los Angeles (and that could be 2050). This is just stupid. If Rivers were to go, it would constitute a profound franchise catastrophe. It would implode.

I just received an e-mail saying the Chargers would be much better off with a mobile quarterback like Robert Griffin III or Andrew Luck, even Peyton Manning. Help me.

Peyton has great pocket awareness. He’s as mobile as stump. Manning, I’m convinced, would not be winning squat with this Chargers team. There is no protection (watch Manning cringe when he’s the least bit pressured). And I don’t think the other two would, either. No one’s more mobile than Philly’s Michael Vick, and with his offensive line, he’s fortunate to be walking around.

Rivers’ O line has disintegrated. I hate to even think what Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh is going to resemble. Dresden after World War II?

Right tackle Jeromey Clary (knee) is out. Left tackle Mike Harris, a rookie free agent who has given his all subbing for Jared “Terminal Muscle Strain” Gaither, is going to be out with a high ankle sprain. Left guard Tyronne Green likely will miss with a hamstring.

Nightmare. The Chargers cannot run the ball without an offensive line and their lack of one takes away any chance of stretching a field and preserving their franchise. Nobody’s better than Norv with protection, but you can’t protect without protection devices.

Even Turner, who seems to view his chances of beating Pittsburgh similar to the Falklands taking England, says he liable to be using “guys I haven’t met. It’s going to be a challenge.”

You must understand this is what’s “wrong” with Philip Rivers. He’s not mobile. He’s spent his life not being mobile. He can say what he wants — he’s a leader who sticks up for his men — but he’s a $90-million property who should have many years left.

What’s wrong with Rivers — what was wrong with him last year during the team’s six-game losing streak until The Miracle of Gaither — is right in front of him. His line.

Winning in the NFL begins and ends up front. Rivers rarely has a pocket. Watch film. When he has time to step up and make throws, he’s as good as he’s ever been.

And when you consider what he’s done here, played hurt and desperate, taken all the shots, blamed himself — and, as he might say in his Alambamese, won a whole bunch of games — to take him apart now is unwarranted and unjust. This is a good man, a family man, a warrior who comes to play. And I insist he remains one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks — when he is allowed to play football.

“He hasn’t been as consistent as we’re all used to seeing,” says Turner, who knows as much about the position as anyone alive, “but he’s probably been hit more in the last 5-6 weeks than he has in any season.”

After last Sunday’s 17-10 loss to Cincinnati, I asked Rivers if he’d heard the boos, if he thought they were just part of the business. “I reckon,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s part of the business or not.”